


I Am Not The Only One

by Emeraldawn



Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Also a small dash of Scott, Gen, Lots of talks about Jackson, Summer after season 2 up until the end of 3.1, and guns, and research, and shopping, because when I think of friends I think of guns, friendship fic, with coffee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-19 08:47:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/881805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emeraldawn/pseuds/Emeraldawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When your best friends leave, you seek comfort in people that understand you.  Friendship, Team Human fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Am Not The Only One

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my beta killpurakat for another wonderful job. Sorry I gave you so little time. Again!  
> Beta’s Notes: Any lingering mistakes are my fault. ;)
> 
> From the prompt: “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” (C.S. Lewis) -- humans bonding over the weird things happening in their town
> 
> Hope I nailed it (or at least hit the target somewhere)

First, Stiles was the only non-hunter human to know, there were werewolves in Beacon Hills. It wasn't hard to figure out, after Scott came back from the woods with an animal bite deep enough that he _should_ have gone to the hospital. Hell, he knew even before Scott did.

Lydia was next, after Jackson was turned into a lizard killing puppet. Frankly, Stiles was surprised that super-intelligent Lydia never figured it out by herself, even if the answer happened to be _mythical creatures are real,_ and you’re in love with one.

Danny was brought into the secret the first week of summer. Stiles opened his door to find Lydia and a baffled Danny on his porch. He didn't get out a proper greeting before Lydia ordered, “Tell him,” and walked past Stiles into the kitchen.

“So, you want to come in, dude?” Stiles stepped aside, allowing Danny to come in.

“Look, Stiles, I don't know why I'm here -”

“No, no, this is a sit down conversation, preferably with alcohol, but it's early and Dad finished the last yesterday.” Stiles talked as he walked, knowing Danny would follow. “Lydia, I think he'll handle this better coming from you.”

“Look, as much as I hate to admit it, this is not my area of expertise. Plus, I am here for moral support.” 

“More like to confirm that I'm not crazy,” Stiles mumbled, trading his focus to Danny sitting next to him, “What do you know?”

“That's the problem, nothing. Look, Jackson’s my friend, and he's been acting odd since he and Lydia broke up. First, I thought it was because he had feelings he didn't know how to express-”

“He does have the emotional depth of a teaspoon...fine, fine continue.”

“So I went to Lydia, after he kept pushing me away, and she said, for some reason, you have the answers.” Danny ended giving Stiles a look like _he_ was the one to stab Jackson at the finals. 

“Gee, thanks, Lydia.”

“Stiles, what is _wrong_ with my friend?”

“How to you feel about werewolves?”

Danny's forehead showed new levels of confusion, ones that Stiles didn't think registered on the one through ten scale. “Like team Jacob?” 

“No, more like team Jackson.”

“Really, Stiles, I could have said it better.” Lydia looked over at Danny, whose face was a plethora of... well Stiles didn't know, but the goalie was thinking it through, so maybe...

“Wait, wait. Wait. You're telling me Jackson, who I have known since we were in preschool, turns into a dog on the full moon, and, _somehow_ , I never noticed?”

“Well, to be honest, it’s a recent development,” Stiles sat more comfortable in the wooden chair. “Before he was a lizard, and before that he was an ass.”

Danny looked at Stiles closely, then did the same with Lydia. Stiles knew he was waiting for someone to jump out, yelling “pwned.” When neither moved, Danny’s eyebrows rose. “You two believe this?”

“Believe it? Danny boy, I was there when my best friend was bitten. Trust me, there’s werewolves in them there hills.”

“Lydia?”

“We're not lying, Danny, trust me I have seen things...done things...”

Stiles reached over, covering her hand in his own, giving her something else to concentrate on. “It's not your fault, Lydia. None of it is.”

“Okay, so Jackson and Scott. Are either of you two... umm...”

“Of the canine variety?” Danny nodded, eyes still confused as he waited for Stiles to answer the question. “No, I am one-hundred percent human.”

“And I am two-hundred percent fabulous.” If Lydia's voice sounded a little watery when she said it, neither boy mentioned it.

__________________________________________

Danny got his proof in the form of a wolfed-out Jackson. Lydia and Stiles urged Jackson to show Danny before the once-kamina left for London. Lydia made a good argument that letting Danny know would help Jackson, since then he could have a person to talk to with no secrets. Stiles just argued on general principle, as it was the only form of communication that he and Jackson had.

After Jackson wrangled a promise that no one, except the four of them, would know that Danny was let in on the secret, his face morphed into his beta form. Stiles almost died laughing from the lack of eyebrows on _both_ Jackson and Danny. 

Later that week, Jackson left for London, leaving Danny without his best friend for the first time since they shared juice boxes at preschool snack time. Stiles brought over a bottle of Jack and mindless movies, leaving early the next morning with a monster hangover and _Werewolves of London_ as Jackson's new ringtone on Danny's phone.

__________________________________________

It took less than a week before Lydia called Stiles. “I'll be at that coffee shop, off of main, in ten minutes.”

“O- _kay_? Is this some sort of reverse stalking? You let me know where you are at all times, sending me odd pictures of yourself, to hang on the walls of my closet... that sort of thing?”

“No, it means that you'll meet me there in ten minutes, and if you're dressed in anything that looks like you bought it at the Goodwill, I'll torch the contents of your closet.”

If Stiles made it there in under nine minutes, it _wasn't_ because Lydia scared the living shit out of him when she turned threatening. 

He shouldn't have been surprised seeing a familiar face when he entered _Main St. Cups_ , but when he spotted Danny sitting at a corner table, as if he was waiting for someone, Stiles knew he was here at the summons of one strawberry-blonde force of nature. 

“Did she threaten your wardrobe too?”

“Lydia? Hardly. She doesn’t have issues with my clothes. You on the other hand...”

“Please don't tell me this is some sort of sassy makeover, because, dude, it ain’t happening.”

“I, for one, think it will be happening, but not today,” Lydia's voice was behind Stiles and to his left. “Stiles, be a dear and place my order with yours.”

Stiles ordered his and Lydia’s drinks, which sounded more like a complicated formula for a pharmaceutical drug than a coffee, before dropping into the oversized chair next to Danny.

“I don’t know what that is Lydia, but I wouldn’t call it coffee anymore.”

“Like you drink black coffee?”

“No, I’m drinking chai tea, but I don't think you called Danny and I to talk about how we take our hot beverages, so spill Lydia.” Stiles knew he was on the right track when Lydia give him her _I'm impressed with you_ face, and not the _I'm going to smack you if you open your mouth again_ look.

“So, I have noticed we three have more things in common than we realized and might benefit from a mutual relationship of sorts.”

“Lydia that is the worst opening for asking if we can all be friends that I heard of in my life,” Danny said, giving the _I can't believe that came out of your mouth _look, which was usually reserved for Stiles alone.__

__“Oh, that's what you were trying to say? I thought we were entering some sort of odd business sex deal.” Stiles paused as two glares locked onto his face. “But I thought the three of us were friends already?”_ _

__“I'd say we're friendly, Stiles, but not _friends_ ,” Danny said, “and what things do we have in common other than, age, school, and knowing the same people?”_ _

__“She means the lupine issue in Beacon Hills,” Stiles said, taking another sip of tea._ _

__“Also,” Lydia counted of on her fingers, “we are all non-hunters, human, geniuses in our own right, and we all have found ourselves without our best friends this summer.”_ _

__“I know Jackson and Allison are both in other countries, but Scott is still here.”_ _

__“Yes, and how many times have you seen him in the last three weeks?' Lydia asked. Stiles shrugged._ _

__“He's been busy. I think he's trying to put his life back in order.”_ _

__“Look, Stiles, you have more knowledge in this field than either Danny or I. I don't want anything that happened to me last year to happen again. Call it a preemptive strike. If nothing happens, then I just spent the summer learning something new, which is something I would anyway.”_ _

__“Wait,” Danny leaned forward, lowering his voice, “you think something is going to happen? I thought that keeping my knowledge about everything secret was to keep me safe.”_ _

__“It will help, but Lydia didn't know anything, and that didn't stop Peter for using her to come back from the dead somehow. Fine, I'll let you two know that Lydia might not be that far off the mark either.”_ _

__“What do you know Stiles?” Lydia now mimicked Danny, leaning in with a lowered voice._ _

__Stiles shook his head and grabbed his cell phone, typing out a text. Danny and Lydia looked on in confusion before their own cells beeped an incoming text notification. _Not in public. Don't know who can hear. Boyd and Erica have been missing since the finials.__ _

__Lydia shook her head in understanding before texting a reply. _Do you think someone took them?__ _

___Derek and his pack have been busy looking for something, and Scott said that they never made it back from the Argents._ _ _

__Danny that texted back with, _When do we start?_ _ _

__And that's when bi-weekly movie night started._ _

____

_______________________________________________ 

“So what are our cover movies for the night?” Stiles asked Danny as he entered the Martin’s mini-mansion.

“Tonight’s Lydia's pick. We are critiquing the flaws of women in Disney's classic cartoons, _Snow White_ , _Sleeping Beauty_ , and _Cinderella_.”

“She's punishing me for my classic werewolf movie marathon, isn’t she?” 

“I think she was just upset because she had to actually _watch_ them.”

“I don't know why, it's not like anybody is going to ask what the movie was about, _if_ anybody even asks about what we are doing hanging out together in the first place.”

“You're the one that argued for reasonable alibis. Just because you don't like the one I choose on _my_ day doesn't mean you get to change the rules. But don't worry, I made it easy for you,” Lydia handed Stiles an essay that was _typed and bound_. “You can read this in your spare time.” 

Stiles looked at the purple paper cover. “ _The Disney Princess: Negativity Influence on Gender Ideologies, or Wholesome Family Entrainment_?”

“You took the time to type a thirty page essay on how the Disney Corporation is anti-feminist?” 

“Don't be silly, I wrote that when I was twelve, and it's only twenty pages.” Lydia walked down the hall to the recreational room she had set up for tonight. “It's nothing I'd have published but enough to get the points across.”

“Okay, okay,” Stiles followed after her and Danny, “I get it, no more horror movies. But I would like to say in my defense Danny was totally drooling over Michael in _Underworld,_ which isn't even a horror movie so it doesn't count at all.”

“Hey, at least he didn't make us watch Twilight, Lydia.” Good old Danny understood! Plus Stiles knew Danny hated listening to Stiles whine. “He knows the boundaries.”

“Fine then, I'll wait until next week to quiz you on it, Stiles.” 

“Wait, when did our cover story turn into homework for me? I don't suppose letting you pick all chick-flicks will get me out of this one?”

“Nope,” Lydia said, with a loud pop at the end. “Anyway, tonight I have something you'll really enjoy, Stiles.” She turned the laptop around so the other two could see the screen. Stiles gave a low whistle, reading what was on the screen.

“You started translating the bestiary?”

“This thing is massive, but I got through about twenty pages so far. However, I was thinking with what the Argents have collected, what Stiles has collected, and what we know from dealing with things first hand, we can have our own database.”

“Sounds like a large summer project, Lydia,” Danny commented, reading from the screen as he talked. “What are you planning on having me do? I haven't experienced anything first hand and I have zip knowledge in Latin.”

“What you do best, Danny? This thing is just word documents and scanned pages. I typed everything in a word document myself, but it will be just as disorganized as the Hunters. We need something to make this easy to catalog and read, saving time if needed.”

“I can write a coded database where we can catalog the entries. Maybe self-alphabetizing everything,” Danny grabbed one of the many spiral notebooks Lydia had laying around. “Let’s see... what might need different categories? Maybe something like humanoid, animal, unknown. Add a danger level to everything?”

“Kind of like D&D classifications, only for the real shit that’s out there?” Stiles asked.

“Yes, only I refuse to call this a creature catalog,” Danny said, taking notes on what he wanted in his program.

“Wasn't planning to. I think the title is copyrighted anyway. However, I think we should just call it ‘the assignment’ for now, so anyone who overhears us will think it's something for school,” Stiles said.

“Agreed. Just when we’re talking outside our homes,” Lydia said. “Anything else, Danny?”

“I was thinking a tagging system, but not a loose open one like social networks use. But something we can cross reference information in. Like you said that the Kamina was an abomination of a werewolf bite. So Jackson fall under two categories.”

“Yea, because once Lydia broke him free of the Kanima, his werewolf-ness came out,” Stiles added. “I think this needs a password. We were able to liberate it from the hunters a little too easy. Especially since it holds so many secrets on how they hunt too. How did you get this copy Lydia? I thought Allison just showed you the page she wanted translated.”

“I may have done some liberating of my own when I went to help her pack for France. It was in the going-to-storage pile. She won’t even notice it's gone until they get back.”

“Wait, they have a storage unit here, in Beacon Hills?” Stiles looked at Lydia, with a gleam in his eyes. 

“No, Stiles. I know what you are thinking, and it is no, no, _no_.”

“Oh, come on, the security on most storage units are shitty anyway! A few cameras, most of them cheaply made and a lock that can be cut with a bolt cutter.” Stiles grabbed his own paper writing as fast as he could talk, “Black clothes and gloves will cover most of the camera problems, unless we cut the power...”

“Stiles, no, I am not going to add breaking and entering to my list. I am still on probation from the hacking.”

“But the books they must have in there!” Both Lyida and Danny looked hurt. Stiles knew they had their reasons. “Okay, you're both right, plus it _is_ Allison. It wouldn't feel right stealing from her.”

“And it will take us awhile with the current information we have anyway,” Lydia reassured Stiles. “And don't forget tomorrow; we're going to the mall!”

“Why must you dress me like a nerdy Ken doll?”

“Because, I know what I am doing, and you _clearly_ have never seen a color wheel. We were right about your hair.”

“Yes, fine, I do look better with it.” Stiles crossed his arms, eyes centered on Danny. “I still think you cheated somehow.”

“No, you're just easy to sucker into a bet. Jackson and I use to play pool all the time. I can teach you if you want.” Danny said moving to the pool table. 

Stiles caught Lydia smiling at Danny when his back was turned. “It's good to see him smile, Stiles. Jackson's leaving hurt him.”

_________________________________________________

“You have _got_ to be kidding me, Lydia!” Stiles held the offensive jeans at arm’s length. “I would look ridiculous in these.”

“I don't see the problem; they’re black. Like blue jeans, everyone should have at least one pair.” 

“But they’re _skinny_ jeans!”

“And? Men like women in tight clothes, but when the tables are turned...”

“No, no, that's not what I meant. It's just... I don't have the body for th—”

“Stiles, shut up and put the jeans on. Oh good, Danny, you found a shirt for him?” 

“Yeah, the coloring should be good on him, and fits the club we're going to tonight.” Danny handed the shirt to Stiles, who took it without looking at it.

“We're going to a club?”

“You didn't tell him, Lydia? Tonight, couple towns over. Live music, so it pulls in a good mix of people.” Danny reached into his front pocket and pulled out his wallet, flipping it open. Sliding a card out, he handed it to Stiles. “Here you go, and if I hear the words, fake or ID in the same sentence, I _will_ lock you in the trunk for the night.”

_________________________________________________

“Danny, have you seen Lydia?” Stiles pulled up next to Danny, who was waiting to order his drink at the bar.

“You missed her by about ten minutes. She found someone for the night. What something?” Danny pointed to the area of the alcohol bottles that lined across the back of the busy bar.

“Wait, is that safe Danny? What if-”

“Stiles, not everyone is going to be a supernatural of some sort. Plus, she's moved on to the rebound sex part of her recovery after her break up with Jackson.” Danny held up two fingers when he got the bartender's attention, leaning in close to order the drinks over the noise.

Handing Stiles one of the drinks, Danny pushed his way back out of the growing crowd that was pressed around the bar, waiting to order drinks. They stopped further away from the music before Stiles asked, “Are you here for the same thing?”

“No, Lydia was dating Jackson. Her stages of grief are a little different than mine. I didn't feel to need to fuck as many men as I can to prove something.”

“Sorry, I never-”

“You know it's nothing to be ashamed of right? Not having sex by sixteen. I know it sounds like a PSA, but you should wait until you are ready with someone, and not just because you feel it's a box that needs to be checked off by now.”

“I know, it's just I feel I'm being left behind, you know?”

“It'll happen. It's not like it's going to kill you to be a virgin a little longer.”

“You're right,” Stiles downed the rest of his drink, before standing up, “Come on, don't be a table warmer, let’s go, Danny boy.”

“Fine, but if you do the worm, I'm leaving you here.” Danny moved toward the dance floor, Stiles trailing behind him.

“Please, that was a high school dance, _and_ I was dared!”

_________________________________________________

“Excuse me? You want to know if I can do _what_?” Stiles looked at Lydia in horror. This thing with her face must be a clone.

“Teach us, I'm sure you've played-”

“Yes, Scott and I use to, before he could cheat with wolfy powers.” That had been, surprisingly, Scott's idea. Stiles never failed to feel a bit sorry about the hypocritical thinking of his best friend, since Scott still competed in lacrosse.

It was the middle of July, and the three of them, over the last month, had been in at least one of the other’s company daily since Danny had found out about werewolves. It wasn’t all research and organizing. Much to Lydia’s delight, and damage to his father’s credit card, she had taken control of the contents of Stiles’s closet. Danny and Stiles may have had a not-so-secret online gaming day, which Danny would never admit to outside the group. They saw movies, went clubbing a few times, bowled, and even had a table at the local coffee shop. 

However, Lydia would still shock Stiles with an odd request. Like teaching them paintball. 

“Don’t get me wrong, Lydia, I can totally see you kicking my ass if you wanted to, but I _can’t_ see you allowing people to shoot you with paint.”

“No, I have a different idea in mind. Come here, look what I translated last night.” Lydia pulled her notes out for Stiles, who took the notebook and read quickly.

“Wait, they had recipes for using wolfbane in liquid?”

“Yes, including results on what mixture was most potent. So I was thinking of a way to fire a small amount of liquid at a target. Naturally, a paintball gun would work, and unlike the bullets the hunters like to use in regular guns, we can legally carry them in our cars.”

“Okay, but how are you going to get this stuff _in_ the paintball?”

“Danny is working on it. We’re thinking of injection needles. We can pull out some of the paint and insert the liquid. Seal in with either more gelatin, like the coating is made of, or a little crazy glue.”

“Why not water guns?”

“Distance,” Danny said walking into the room with a plastic bag, “and accuracy. If we need to defend ourselves, we would like to get them before they are in clawing range.” Danny held up the bag. “I got a box of cheap ones, we can practice on them before we get the better ones.” 

“How many rounds can go into a gun, Stiles?” 

“About two hundred, give or take the type of gun and size of the hopper. But I am not letting you shoot that out of my gun until we can make sure the pressure won’t explode the ball in the barrel.”

“Okay, then we get a used one. But until then, you can teach me how to shoot with regular paintballs.”

________________________________________________________

“I don’t understand why I can’t hit the target, it’s just geometry!” Lydia looked at the target board, as if it personal offended her.

“It’s a little more than that, Lyds. A good marksman has to adjust for wind, distance, and the weight of the bullet. Or in this case, a wolfbane-filled paintball.” Stiles readjusted her hold.

“I _know_ all that, it’s part of the equation—”

“Are you adding in the flinch you make as you pull the trigger?”

“I do _not_ flinch!”

“Sorry, but you do. Maybe shooting isn’t for you?”

“Shut it, Stiles. I will learn how to shoot this damn thing!”

“Okay, but try calming down. Deep breath, then pull the trigger.”

“But, if anything happens I wouldn’t _be_ calm.”

“No, that’s why you add distractions after you master _hitting the target_.”

“Really, I don’t think we have time—” 

Stiles casually snatched up the other paintball gun and fired at the target, the three blue paintballs hitting close to the bull’s-eye.

“Look, I’m teaching you like my father taught me, only he used a gun, because as you know, being the Sheriff, that’s what he shoots with. You don’t get a gun and get sent off to danger and hope for the best.”

Lydia stood frowning, feet apart, took a deep breath and aimed for the target again.

________________________________________________

“Stiles, I hope you don’t mind me coming over,” Danny said, walking into Stiles’s bedroom.

“Danny, you haven’t asked in over a month. What’s wrong?” Sometime over the last two months, the three of them adopted an open door policy. Stiles’s dad just raised an eyebrow and told him to be careful after witnessing Lydia and Danny just enter the house and walk into his room. Of course, they both came separate times on the same day, so Stiles had a feeling his father’s warning was leaning towards a discussion that he didn’t want to have with his father _again_. Sex.

Danny sat down on Stiles’s bed, looking like he was trying to hold a normal expression, but ultimately he failed... epically. “Dude, don’t you dare say you’re fine, ‘cause even Coach’s blind grandma can tell you’re not.”

“Lydia got a call from Allison today. She’ll be in town next week,” Danny said looking at the ground.

“Okay, I don’t see why you’d be upset...”

“Allison is coming back. Scott never left, just got busy this summer. School starts back up in two weeks and, for the first time since I wore a backpack, I won’t have Jackson there.”

“So you think, what, it’s going to be ‘nice knowing you, Danny?’ Dude, we spent _all_ summer together, just the three of us! Sure we might not be attached at the hip during class, like we seem to be now, but do you think any of us is going to be the same now as when we were sophomores?”

Danny didn’t say anything. He just looked Stiles in the eye, gaging the truth in his words.

“I get it, Danny, I really do. Scott’s my long term best bro, but I can have more than one friend. Plus, us three, we have something special. Not sexual or anything,” Stiles pushed all thoughts of parental talks _firmly_ out of his head, ”but we fit like three badass peas in a pod. Plus, you step away from this, and I’ll shave my hair back off!”

“Best bet you ever lost. Yeah, Lydia has to keep you in less plaid.”

“Yup, and who is going to hit the dance floor with me? I had to threaten Lydia at winter formal.”

“You would have had to threaten me too then. I remember the worm incident.” Danny gave Stiles his half smile that was close to a cheeky grin. 

“That was a…never mind.” Stiles thought Danny was okay, but just to be sure he asked, “ Look, we good dude?” 

“Yeah, Stiles, we’re good.”

_________________________________________________

“Fuck! Lydia, are you okay?” Stiles pulled Lydia up off the ground, hands on her arms.

The classroom looked like a scene from a Hitchcock movie. Windows had shattered with feathers and blood along the jagged glass edges. Desks lay overturned from students trying to either get away or use them as a blockade. Dead birds littered the room, some hitting the surfaces so hard, all that was left was a pile of feathers and blood. 

Fortunately, none of the students received injuries worse than minor cuts and bruises. 

“I’ll be fine, I been through—”

“Don’t, Lydia. Either of us saying that this is nothing compared to the past shit we have gone through is just a testament to how crappy of lives are, and I don’t think I can go down that path right now!”

“Maybe we’re in shock. It will hit us later, you know?”

“Let’s go with that. It’s more of a natural, explainable reaction.” Stiles doubted every word he said, but they didn’t have time to panic. He knew by now his father would be on the way. “Lydia, Allison brought you to school right?”

“Yes, why?”

“Call me crazy, but I think trauma from mass animal attack-suicide is grounds to close the school for the day. Keep an eye on Allison; this is the third animal attack that I know of since she came back.” 

“You don’t think she’s involved, right?”

“Not directly, but they are Argents, well know hunters of the supernatural. Let’s just keep an eye on her to be safe.” Stiles gave her arm a squeeze before going to talk to her teacher, who was clearly in a state of shock over the bird guts all over the classroom.

_________________________________________________________

Stiles followed Scott out of the burnt Hale home, his feet leading him to his jeep. The last hour had been very informative. With knowing about Isaac being attacked, finding out that Erica and Boyd were wolf-napped, and an Alpha pack was camping somewhere way too close for comfort, discovering out how werewolves got their tattoos didn’t seem all that interesting.

“Stiles, can you give me a ride back to my bike, man?” Scott asked, jeep door already open.

“Yeah, no problem,” Stiles said absentmindedly, more focused on the text he was sending out. _Got some more info on that assignment. Meet tonight. Danny’s turn to buy dinner_.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Tried to pick up and use things I've seen in season 3 that could make this believable. Like: Stiles, Lydia and Danny all having each other’s cell phone numbers; Lydia feeling the need to call Stiles every time something was happening. There are other things, but not going to list them all, in case readers have not seen season 3 yet.


End file.
